


What Is And What Should Be

by DancingForRain



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Competent Reid, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Loyalty, Prejudice, Protective Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 12:15:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20506856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingForRain/pseuds/DancingForRain
Summary: There's always one guy who looks at Reid and makes the wrong assumptions.





	What Is And What Should Be

**Author's Note:**

> GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE. I've been on new medication for almost two months now, to combat my mental health issues, but this new prescription is also said to improve focus and my dudes I think it might be doing just that. Believe it or not I've started two other fics in the last two weeks that I haven't posted yet, because I'm hoping to finish them or at least get close to before I do, and adding to this, I've written more in the last month than I probably have in at LEAST a year.
> 
> Also this fic marks the second one that I've written and edited while mildly drunk in a hotel room at a questionable time of the morning. This is of course coincidence and does not need to be examined in any way, but is a good excuse for any mistakes or bad rhythm in my writing that you may find.

There’s always one.

Reid’s elaborating on the influence an alpha has over their pack and Derek can see one of the local cops near the back of the room glaring sceptically. Reid explains how the alpha ensures their pack relies on them and the cop speaks up with a mocking “who do you rely on, then?”

There’s a quiet ripple of amusement, though to the police department of Tulsa’s credit, most of the assembled officers ignore the comment. Hotch smoothly picks up where Reid left off, and the moment is forgotten. The man that spoke looks smug through the delivery of the profile, until he catches Derek eye and blanches.

There’s always one.

Sometimes they don’t say a word about it through the entirety of the BAU’s visit. Some even try to hide the distaste, the scepticism. Most aren’t that sensitive about it. But every town they fly to, every sheriff’s department they set up in, every new FBI office they visit, there’s always at least one officer or agent who looks at Reid and wonders what the hell he’s doing there.

It happens with Prentiss and JJ too. Doesn’t matter what year it is, there’s always going to be those who don’t believe women belong in this line of work. Prentiss takes vicious pleasure in disassembling these notions and ripping down the individuals in the process. JJ has a little more trouble dealing with it – her younger face and gentler nature implies a weakness, no matter that she’s as much in the thick of the action as the others. Even after becoming an official profiler, she’s still the one to comfort the families, to play the role of kind and understanding. It leaves her open to judgement from those that don’t know her, that don’t know how the team works, but it also, in a way, buffers any sideways looks or snide comments; people look at JJ and assume that’s the only reason she’s there. They’re wrong, and it’s unfair, but it helps, in a way.

Reid faces a different kind of prejudice. He’s not the young kid he was when Gideon first brought him into the BAU. He has years of experience, he’s seen hundreds of gruesome crimes – he could probably tell you the exact amount of bodies he’s leaned over and examined, not that Derek’s ever going to ask. Not to mention the trauma and the pain he’s survived, which Derek prefers not to.

But even now people look at Reid and see someone too young, too skinny, too weak. They see the sweater vests, the converse shoes, the gun sticking out awkwardly from his hip, and they build an image in their heads of everything a skilled and capable federal agent shouldn’t be. They see Reid next to Hotch, Rossi, next to Derek, and they scoff.

Reid seems more or less immune. In the first couple of years he’d taken it quietly, Derek thinks because on some level he’d secretly agreed with them. Even after proving himself, time and time again, Reid doesn’t react much when someone makes a comment or gives him one of those looks. At this point it’s more because he just doesn’t feel the need to. When Derek thinks about it, Reid’s probably been dealing with this in one way or another for all of his life. He’s used to it. And thankfully, at this point, he’s confident enough in himself that others underestimating him doesn’t affect him.

So, yeah, there’s always someone ignorant and too ready to judge when Reid is introduced as a part of the team, title of doctor or not. But for the most part, it’s not really a problem. No one on the team likes it, of course. It’s certainly a constant source of aggravation for Derek. To put it simpler, it pisses him off.

He thinks maybe a small part of the reason why it angers him as much as it does is because it reminds him of the snap judgements he, too, first made about Reid. Of course, Derek had been changing his tune from Reid’s second case with them when he managed to read through the UNSUB's discovered journals in fourty minutes and narrowed his home base to within a 2 mile radius. It had been something of a humbling lesson for him; it would still be a while before Reid was all that competent with a gun, he’d never be the greatest physical fighter on the team, and even now, he’ll always put the desire for a happy ending above procedure. But from the beginning, Reid’s been proving just how valuable he is to the BAU.

The problem, of course, is that no one outside of the BAU has really witnessed this. So yeah, there’s always someone who looks at Reid and decides he shouldn’t be there. And mostly, it’s not an issue.

Except for the times that it is.

“ – the hell you think you are, but I don’t appreciate some upstart little geek acting like he knows more than me.” Derek hears the quiet, angry voice before he sees the source, before he turns the corner of the Reno police department towards the breakroom. One of the LEOs has Reid backed up against the counter. Despite being a few inches shorter than Reid, he’s attempting to loom over the other man, emanating intimidation.

Reid’s talked down psychopaths and been tortured by a man believing he’s doing god’s will. His eyebrows are raised and his face is unimpressed, though he is leaning back in an attempt to regain some personal space.

“I know what I’m talking about, alright? I’ve been a cop since you were learning your ABCs – “

“I doubt that,” Reid interjects. Naturally this only riles up the officer more.

“And I think I can tell the difference between a guy getting revenge and a psychopath just trying to scare people! So the next time you feel like trying to make a decorated police officer look like an idiot…”

Reid’s starting to bend back over the counter to avoid the other man’s breath in his face, and Derek’s just about had enough.

“There a problem?” he asks loudly, unnecessarily. The officer steps back immediately in response to the anger in his tone, turns to face him. The moment he sees who it is that’s interrupted, he steps back further, pastes an ingratiating smile on his face.

“Just a difference of opinion.”

“Uh huh.” Derek glares. “What was your name again?”

“Uh,” the man looks decidedly wary, which proves he’s not a complete moron. “Officer Lee.”

“Lee.” Derek gives what could be considered a smile. “I don’t know if you’ve forgotten, but Sheriff Mackenzie personally asked us – _all_ of us – to come here and provide our expertise on this case. You know why?” Lee glares at him, but says nothing, refusing to walk himself into the trap. “Because he wants to catch the man that’s killed two women before he can add a third to the list. Because he knows we can help him – help _you_ – do that. You wanna get mad about being told you’re wrong in front of your friends like some high schooler, fine.” The smile falls away. “But do it on your own time. Not while there’s still a woman out there counting on us.”

Lee continues to glare, and for a moment it looks like he’s building up to argue some more. But he just scoffs, shakes his head, and leaves the room, with one more poisonous look thrown over his shoulder to Reid.

Once he’s gone, Derek focuses on Reid, who seems to be studying him. “You good?” he asks.

“Fine,” says Reid. The corners of his mouth tick up . “Feel better?”

Derek raises an eyebrow. “Not really.”

He wasn’t exaggerating; there is still a woman waiting for them to save her, so they don’t really talk about it any more than that. But on the jet home it just so happens that Derek finds himself sat across from Reid, buried in some scientific articles. He has his headphones on, music blocking out the sounds of the outside world, but he must be looking at Reid more than he realises because eventually the younger man looks up at him and makes a questioning expression.

Caught out, Derek takes his headphones off and takes a moment to figure out how to word it.

“That happen a lot?”

Reid doesn’t bother pretending to not understand. He smiles sardonically. “Come on, Morgan, you know it does.”

Derek rolls his eyes, because they’re talking about different things here. “I know they underestimate you, I know they question you.” He looks Reid in the eyes, prepared for an attempt at deflection. “I didn’t know you get confronted like that.”

Reid shrugs. “Maybe that was the first time it happened.”

Reid’s naturally a very private person, and sometimes that gives him an advantage when he wants to hide something from his teammates, skilled profilers or not. This isn’t one of those times.

“Come on, kid, I saw the look on your face. You practically looked bored.”

“Then obviously it’s not a problem.”

“Reid.”

“Morgan. Seriously,” Reid sighs. “It happens. You know how it is. Law enforcement is full of alpha males. They take one look at me and they decide they must be smarter, stronger, more competent. They don’t like being proved wrong.” He shrugs again. “It’s to be expected.”

Derek leans forward, annoyed now. “That doesn’t mean you should have to put up with it.”

“Neither should Prentiss, or JJ. Neither should you,” and Derek knows he’s talking about different kinds of prejudice that they all have to deal with, at some point or another. “Doesn’t mean we don’t. It’s not a big deal to me.” He smiles, clearly trying to reassure. “Besides, I’ve had guys like that trying to tell me to back down since I was twelve. I think I can handle it by now.”

And the problem is, Derek can’t really argue with that.

That is, until a couple of months later in their home base of Quantico, when Derek witnesses something similar. In random towns and cities across the country where the LEOs don’t know them from a random Joe, it’s one thing. But in their own offices, where Reid has been working for years now, it’s somehow more insulting.

He finds them by the doors of the BAU one morning as he steps out of the elevator. Some guy he vaguely recognises from the National Security division – Collins, he thinks – is talking to Reid with a spiteful smirk.

“I mean, Jesus, kid, what are you still doing here? They haven’t kicked you out yet?” Derek frowns and starts to make his way over. Reid catches his eye and gives a minute shake of his head but he ignores it. “What could you possibly be doing that’s got the BAU wrapped around your skinny little finger?”

“I suppose you’d have to ask them that,” Reid responds calmly.

“Personally I keep him around for his good looks,” says Derek as he reaches them. Collins starts and, like Officer Lee, makes a visible attempt to backtrack. Something about it frustrates Derek to an irrational degree. These guys don’t think Reid deserves a grain of respect, but are more than willing to play nice the moment he shows up? It’s bullshit.

“Agent Morgan,” Collins acknowledges, affecting a friendly air. “How are you?”

“Just fine, Collins” Derek responds, but he’s not playing along. His expression is hard. “Has Reid offended you somehow?”

“Morgan,” Reid murmurs, “don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Derek asks, his eyes fixed on Collins. “I’m just wondering. What exactly have you done to make him think you shouldn’t be a part of the BAU?”

“What – I – nothing, I just – “

“Nothing?” Derek asks without mercy. “You don’t think he’s helped solve too many cases? You don’t think he’s saved too many victims? You don’t think maybe after years of experience and contribution he’s just failed to live up to expectations – “

“Morgan.” Reid’s voice is harder now, his cheeks mildly flushed. “Seriously. It’s fine.”

“Is it?” Derek asks, unperturbed, still glaring at Collins.

“Yeah,” says Collins, satisfyingly abashed. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Good.” And Derek continues to glare as Collins scuttles off.

“That was unnecessary,” says Reid after a moment, with what Derek thinks is unjustified disapproval.

“Was it?” he demands. “Really? You’re okay with some ass just telling you you don’t deserve – “

“No,” says Reid hastily, “no, obviously. But there’s no point rising to it. It doesn’t change anything.”

Derek looks long and hard at his teammate – his friend – and hates the conclusion he comes to. “How often do other agents talk to you like that?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does!” Morgan makes himself take a deep breath. “It does. How long have you been here, huh? You’ve done more than enough – hell, you’ve been _through_ enough that you shouldn’t have people from your home base talking to you like that.”

“So what do you want me to do, Morgan? You want me to kick up a fuss every time someone talks badly to me? You want me to make a report every time someone acts like I’m beneath them? Because I’ll tell you what, that’s really not going to leave me with a lot of time to _do my job_.”

They look at each other for a long minute, both defiant, both angry but not at each other. Finally, Derek sighs. “You just. Deserve better than that.”

It diffuses the tension. Reid smiles, almost reluctantly. “I know.”

“Do you?”

“Of course.” Reid shifts awkwardly. “You’ve been convincing me of that for years. You all have. I know I joined this team well before just about anyone thought I should. I know I started off younger and more inexperienced than any of you would have liked.” And Derek winces at that, opens his mouth to fix it, but Reid waves him off and speaks over him. “It’s true. And it’s okay. Honestly, you might have been right.” He smiles gently, happily. “But I also know that I have proved myself. You think I wouldn’t, by now? I’m comfortable here, Morgan. I know how I fit here. I know I belong here. And a couple of insecure agents and police officers who never grew out of their high school jock phase isn’t going to change that. That’s why it doesn’t matter. Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have to put up with what some people say to me, but I can handle it. Really.”

Reid looks and sounds completely sincere – if maybe still a little awkward at the speech – and it reassures Derek more than he’d expected.

“Well, good,” he says after a moment of studying Reid’s face. “Because you’re damn right you belong here.”

“Obviously,” says Reid with a roll of his eyes. The easy way he responds, the irony in his voice, are really what go the longest way in making Derek feel better about the whole thing.

That doesn’t stop him from keeping more of an eye out. Doesn’t stop him from listening more carefully when someone corners Reid in the office – be it theirs’ or someone else’s. Doesn’t discourage him from stepping in when the words go too far.

And Reid still looks at him like he’s overreacting, still tells him that it's not at all needed, but Derek’s an experienced profiler, and more than that, he’s Reid’s friend. He’s known the guy for years. Which means, no matter how Reid reacts, or what he says, Derek can see the little flicker of appreciation every time he speaks up and shuts someone down. Because yeah, Reid might have come far enough that he feels secure in his position, and be tough enough that some stranger making questions doesn’t upset him, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t help, having a friend nearby to stick up for you. Reid can stand on his own two feet, and will forever do whatever he has to to prove it.

Derek knows this. He also knows, as long as he’s around, he’s not going to make Reid stand alone.


End file.
